President Bush, who has long brushed aside questions about his legacy, is opening up a bit during his final weeks in office.

At the White House on Monday, Bush called his HIV/AIDS program "one of the most important initiatives of my administration" and praised it as a resounding success.

And in a separate TV interview, the president was unusually blunt in identifying shortcomings during his tenure -- saying that his "biggest regret" was getting the intelligence wrong in Iraq and conceding that he was not ready to be a wartime president when he first took office."I think I was unprepared for war," Bush told ABC News. "In other words, I didn't campaign and say: 'Please vote for me. I'll be able to handle an attack.' In other words, I didn't anticipate war. Presidents -- one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen."The self-criticism is notable for a president who has long resisted looking back at his time in the White House.

In the interview with ABC's Charles Gibson, Bush said he wished "the intelligence had been different" on Iraq but declined to speculate on whether he still would have decided to go to war. "That is a do-over that I can't do," he said.

Bush had two lines of thought he could have pursued. That of his hwaks or that of his father and Powell. Mainly his father. Had 9/11 not taken place, I think he would have been more inclined to listen to his fathers direction.

When Powell stood before the UN and presented what he believed and what Bush believed to be correct and vital intelligence the door was open to go either way. Given the over all uncertainty of how much Iraq may have been involved with terror in general (not 9/11) and a possible resurgence of a weapons program, he listened to his hawks. In fact, at that point, even Powell was convinced that enough had been uncovered to support the more direct and harsh approach. The only one still advising him to not take that course was his father, the one who Bush should have listened to, the one man who truly had the best overall understanding and who truly had his son's best interest at heart.

From there other mistakes made the situation worse. The execution of this war frankly was really very poor until of late. Even with our forces in Afghanistan, had Bush made better execution choices, we could have and should have been able to control and stabilize the country much better than we have, thus saving many innocent lives.

Though I sided with 41's approach on how to take Saddam out, I understood why Bush chose to take the course he did. However, I have never been able to understand the early execution failures which really changed the entire outcome of it. He lost my support right then and that was very early on, in fact in the first week of ground movement, because he was placing politics ahead of American lives.

Consider the possibility that Bush II was unprepared to for EVERY TASK that the office of POTUS demands.

What DID he get right, anyway?

Click to expand...

A program for the homeless that saves taxpayer money. It gives the homeless homes with the expectation that having a place to live permanently will improve their lives. In my area at least, the program has worked pretty well and our homeless population is greatly reduced (of course with the economy this could all change). Instead of shuttling the homeless between the streets, the jails and the shelters...paying for an apartment is cheaper.

Off the top of my head that's all I could think of that Bush got right.

A program for the homeless that saves taxpayer money. It gives the homeless homes with the expectation that having a place to live permanently will improve their lives. In my area at least, the program has worked pretty well and our homeless population is greatly reduced (of course with the economy this could all change). Instead of shuttling the homeless between the streets, the jails and the shelters...paying for an apartment is cheaper.

Off the top of my head that's all I could think of that Bush got right.

Click to expand...

he always did a heckuva job giving a turkey amnesty on Thanksgiving, too.

Useful Searches

About USMessageBoard.com

USMessageBoard.com was founded in 2003 with the intent of allowing all voices to be heard. With a wildly diverse community from all sides of the political spectrum, USMessageBoard.com continues to build on that tradition. We welcome everyone despite political and/or religious beliefs, and we continue to encourage the right to free speech.

Come on in and join the discussion. Thank you for stopping by USMessageBoard.com!